


Act Naturally

by Ava_Morgenstern



Category: The Boy (2016 Bell)
Genre: F/M, Might be abandoned, idk how to title things, idk lol, well see lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:08:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26289244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ava_Morgenstern/pseuds/Ava_Morgenstern
Summary: A psychologist with a peculiar hobby moves in to a mansion that is suspiciously way too cheap.
Relationships: Brahms Heelshire/Reader, Brahms Heelshire/You
Kudos: 36





	1. Your POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the very first fanfic i wrote, so I'm sorry if it's bad lol. Not really edited. Read at your own peril xD // This story came to be when my friend and I talked about how we would've reacted if we ever end up in Greta's place... It's safe to say, that we are weird and that we work in a weird field lol.

Tired of living in the city, you moved into a house in the middle of nowhere. Seeing a furnished 19th century Victorian mansion being sold for such a cheap price, you thought it was truly fated. Now, normal people would find it suspicious that such a beautiful house is being sold for a cheap price, but not you. Ghost? You don’t think they exist. A murderer on the loose? You’ve met tons of them during your time working at Broadmoor Hospital. Nothing phases you anymore.

You had to stop at the town to ask for directions since the house is in the middle of nowhere. A kind man who worked at the grocery store offered to help you move in and also mentioned that they offer grocery deliveries if needed. He looked very surprised when you told him you were moving into the Heelshire's mansion. He asked you if you knew the history of the house. You told him yes, you do. “It’s very tragic, but nothing to be afraid of" you said. You rejected his help to move in since you don’t like anyone touching your things, cautious as to what they would stumble upon in your belongings. But you agreed to the grocery delivery since you’d rather not make those trips yourself. 

It was almost night when you arrived at the house. Without lights to illuminate the house, the darkness seemed to call you, warn you. You parked your car in the driveway and walked towards the front door to unlock it. It only took you 3 trips from your car to your house to move everything you own since you didn’t have to bring any furniture. You ended up choosing the room at the end of the second-floor hallway as your bedroom. 

Tired from your trip, you decided that you’ll unpack the boxes tomorrow and went straight to bed. Your exhaustion lulls you to sleep. That night you dreamt of a man with a porcelain face standing at the foot of your bed. You thought it was a weird dream.

Your first night in the house wasn’t eventful. It’s only 7am, but your body refused to go back to sleep. You got up and got dressed, ready to start the day. As you walked through the hallway, you heard creaking sounds. _It’s probably the house settling in_ , you thought. 

You went downstairs and grabbed one of the boxes you could not put away yesterday and made your way to the kitchen. After putting away all the kitchen supplies stored in the box, you grabbed some cereal and milk (you didn’t really bring food). After eating, you called Elijah, the man who worked at the grocery store, and asked if he could deliver some things from your list: 

_Eggs  
Carrots  
Broccoli  
etc……_

“No meat? Are you a vegetarian?” he asked. 

You laughed, “Oh, no, I’m not. I’m just very particular about the meat.”. Speaking of meat, you thought you should find some soon. _I need to drive to the next town just to be safe_ , you thought.

Before you unpack your things, you roamed around the house first and explore. You brought out the house blueprint the lawyer who sold the house gave you. He said it won’t be accurate since this was before the house fire 20 years ago and the Heelshires had done some renovations since then. You thought back on the words the lawyer said before he agreed to sell you the house. “Change nothing about the house, especially its walls,” he said. That was his only condition before he could sell the house to you, at the last owner’s behest. 

Walking around the house and inspecting each room, you noted that the rooms were originally bigger. It seems like they changed the walls after the fire. There was also a missing room in the house, it was probably walled in at some point. 

The house felt eerie. It’s as if someone is watching you. Once in a while, you would hear creaking sounds of the wood, and you swear you hear echoes of your footsteps. 

After roaming around, you decided it’s finally time to unpack your things. You wanted to do the library first since it’s where you’ll be spending most of your time. The quietness of the house felt too loud, so you played some music from the gramophone you found earlier. You checked all the discs they had, which were mostly classical and a bit of jazz. Thank god. You hated lyrical songs since you find it rather too distracting. The disc you chose was titled “Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38 Sonate für Klavier und Violoncello”. You found it amusing since the composer’s name is Johannes Brahms. He has the same name as the boy who perished in this house 20 years ago. 

You placed all your books and reference materials in the bookshelves, going through the Heelshire’s collection as you go. They had an interesting collection. A lot of them were classics and poetry. Interesting enough, they also had an entire bookshelf full of gothic books. It rather seems fitting considering that the house itself feels like it’s alive.

The state of the house was disconcerting, but not enough to be alarmed. It was as if the owners just spontaneously decided to leave and never return. There was an open book laying on the desk, scattered music sheets on the piano. 

After putting away your books and your laptop, you didn’t really have much to do. You hadn’t found a new job yet, and the weather outside was gloomy, the grey clouds refusing to let sunlight in. So you grabbed a book and laid down on one of the sofas in the study, letting the music fill the room. 

It hadn’t been long until you heard a noise. It sounded very near, as if it came from the room you were in. But you looked around and saw nothing that would make any sounds. You turned down the music, waiting to see if you’ll hear something again. 

That’s when you hear knocking at the front door. You turned up the music as you went out, wanting to fill the house with music. 

At the door was Elijah holding two bags of groceries. 

You smiled. "Come in" 

You led him to the kitchen, and he placed the bags down at the counter. 

“How was your first night here?” he asked. 

“Nothing really happened. I was exhausted from the trip so I actually just fell asleep the same hour as I got here.” You said as you go through the bags and sort them out, letting Elijah put them away in the cupboards. 

“So, what brings you here?” he asked carefully.

You shrugged. “I know it seems peculiar that someone in their late 20s would move to the English countryside by themselves and live in an enormous house. I just wanted a fresh start, I guess.” 

“I don’t think it’s weird at all. We’re quite similar in that regard.. I mean, I’m not from around here originally, I moved here by myself a few months ago,” he said. 

“I hope you don't mind me asking, but what is it you do for a living?” he asked. 

At this point, you were almost done putting away the first bag of groceries. 

“I’m actually a psychiatrist. Honestly, I’m not sure how I can find work here. I didn’t really plan the move as much as I should have” You laughed as you say this, nervous that he might pry more. 

Noting your discomfort, Elijah steered the conversation away from yourself. He talked about this town, the people, and the things you can do for fun (or the lack thereof). 

After putting all the groceries away, Elijah invited you to town later tonight. 

“Just wanted to show you around. I know how it feels to be a newcomer here, after all.” 

You smiled. “Thank you, that’s nice of you to do so. I can’t tonight since I would like to finish unpacking. But definitely some other time...Here, I’ll give you my number so we could stay in contact.” 

He gave you his phone, and you typed in your number. 

“See you soon.” You walked him out the door.

_______________________________

The first few weeks of your stay at the mansion passed by quickly.

You noticed that some food would go missing from time to time. Some of your things have gone missing as well. At first, you thought it was simply your forgetfulness, you are in a new place. Although you’re not sure how one could misplace their own clothes, who knows. It’s not uncommon for you to misplace things from time to time. But when your gold cast coin necklace that you absolutely loved disappeared, you knew something was amiss. It also doesn’t help that you would hear thumping and creaking sounds all over the place. Especially in the walls. And your dreams? It’s all the same. A man standing in your room. 

Maybe…

Just maybe…

Someone else was here? It’s definitely a possibility since you do live in such a big place. There are tons of hiding places here. 

You've always heard horror stories of people secretly living in attics, the house owners none the wiser.

You know they’re not exactly dangerous, since you’re still unharmed. This person had every opportunity to hurt you, but they haven't even shown themselves. 

But who?

You thought back about the things you knew about the history of the house. 

_This house was previously owned by the Heelshire family. They had a son who died over 20 years ago in the fire. Around the same time, there was a murder of a child that happened near the estate, by the woods._

You went to the study to use your laptop to research more about the fire that happened here. None of the newspaper archives mentioned that they had recovered the body of the Heelshire's 8-year-old son, Brahms, which was odd. How could they have ruled out the fire as an accident and declared the boy dead without a body? You speculated that they must have forged the documents and paid off people, it’s not a big stretch since they were rich and this happened over 20 years ago, so forensic technology wasn’t as advanced as today. They also had renovated the house after the fire, the spaces between the walls had gotten much bigger, and they also walled in one room on the second floor to make it seem like it was never there. The Heelshire’s lawyer also seemed suspicious, especially what he told you before you bought the house; it’s imperative that you don’t change any of the composition of the house. 

It’s plausible that the Heelshire’s child didn’t perish in the fire, but it was staged that way. It might be connected to the murder of the girl, since the townsfolk had said they were friends. Plus, it's too much of a coincidence for him to die just before they discovered the girl's body. 

You were overcome with sadness at that. That means that someone has been living within the walls for such a long time. How is that possible? And as parents, why would they let it go for so long? Even if he had committed a crime as heinous as murder, he was only 8 years old at the time and would not have been held accountable in the eyes of the law. 

Instead of helping their son, they had shoved him away and used a doll to replace him. A doll is a perfect child, it wouldn’t be able to disobey you, or hurt you. Maybe that’s why they had done it. 

But to force someone to live in the walls for 20 years is astounding. That is just plain cruelty. They can’t even argue that they did it for love, since they didn’t even help the child at all. It was as if they were ashamed of their child, so they just hid him. 

Not wanting to scare him, you just went on with your day as usual, pretending as if you weren’t aware of the other presence who resides within the walls. 

Surely, someone who didn’t have much interaction for 20 years and had lived in the walls would be extremely shy. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t shown himself, much less given a sign that he exists. 

But you would always cook way too much food, more than for one person, anyway. Whenever you would cook, you would wait until you feel his presence, then you would sigh and talk to yourself out loud, “I cooked way too much, how will I ever finish this?” You’d smile to yourself, but only you would get the joke. 

You would always spend your time in the library. Whenever you were doing work on your laptop, you would use the gramophone and play classical music. Sometimes you’d play an audiobook and put the volume in max, hoping that he can hear it through the walls. You weren’t really sure what books he liked, so you would play a variety of them. Great Expectations, Sherlock Holmes, and even Harry Potter (just because you liked the narrator). 

You would also bake a lot of sweet things, making sure that it wouldn’t look obvious if some of them go missing. By now you would always keep count and even place everything in a very precise position so you would know if it had moved. You felt some joy when you notice things that weren't in place or go missing, since it affirms your belief that you are, in fact, not jumping into conclusions about someone else living here. 

Your things never stopped disappearing, although some of them would reappear. Except your clothes… none of the ones that disappeared have resurfaced yet.


	2. His POV

When they had first arrived, he wasn’t sure what to make of it. They didn’t look like a threat, so he had opted to observe them first. It had been some time since he had any resemblance of human interaction, so he had gravitated towards them like a moth to a flame. 

They were a solitude individual, seeking solace in music and books, much like he is. In some way, he felt connected to them. He thought that maybe they differ from the others. 

He would take insignificant items from them, not to make them feel unwelcome, but to have some connection to them. After all, they didn’t even know he was there. 

It certainly had been a mistake when he took their necklace, because they spent an entire day looking for it in every nook and cranny. So the next day he returned it by placing it in a less obvious place, making it seem like they had simply missed that spot when they were searching for it. 

They spent most of their time in the library, playing music either from the gramophone, or sometimes from their “IPod”, he heard them call it that once. They would also listen to recordings of people who would read a book aloud. Although he sometimes gets confused since they clearly are reading an entirely different book from the one that is being read aloud. Reading two books at the same time was such a ridiculous notion.

The first time he heard them play the piano was something memorable for him. He saw them looking through the music sheets that rested on top of the piano and saw them smile and read one of the titles out loud, “Brahms’ Lullaby”... It tugged his heartstrings, hearing his name roll off their tongue so beautifully. 

Hearing them play his song, it had made his lungs collapse, the ache in his chest unexplainable. His parents had made that song for him back then. He looked at where they sat as they were playing the piano, seeing the ghosts who once sat in the same spot, the ones who had promised to love him unconditionally but had not kept it.  


He refused to even entertain the idea of them leaving, just like the others. Maybe it is a good thing that they’re a solitude creature, that means they don’t go out as much. He could be with them, even if it’s only through the walls.

He was always bothered by that grocery boy who would act too friendly with them, stealing looks when they’re not looking. In some ways, he envied that man. He could be with them out in the open. It always made him ecstatic when they didn't return that man’s affections. 

If only he could let them know of his existence. It was truly tortuous to have someone you had always wanted to be so close, yet unreachable. The only time he could ever approach them was when they’re sleeping. If he dared, he could come closer and touch them. But he never dared to touch them. How could he? To touch something as divine, surely his skin would light up in flames. Yet the temptation was always there. The way the moonlight illuminated their skin makes them ethereal. They are both a blessing and a curse. But like Icarus, he would still want to fly high and be near to the sun, even if it will inevitably cause his demise. 

But he did muster enough courage to do it. Once. His fingers hovering over their face. Close enough that he could feel their warmth. A jolt of electricity passed through him, as if it’s daring him to solidify his touch. His fingers did not linger for long, fearing that they might wake up. But he would still spend his nights watching them sleep. Getting drunk on the sight of their sleeping form. 

He couldn’t help but think of the walls that separated them from each other. The walls that once protected him felt too constricting. 

There are things that he still doesn’t understand about them. There were nights when they would go out and return during dawn, always carrying cooler with them. In those nights, he could barely be still, always trying to see signs from outside that they had returned.

After they had returned in one of those nights, he saw that they had placed some bagged items in the chest freezer. Upon closer inspection, they were meat. Although he wondered why they had to go out into the night just for that. It’s a good thing they don’t do this often because if he has half a mind then he would tie them up on a chair just to quell his fear of losing them. 

Because he won’t lose anyone else. Fate be damned. This is _his_ house and _his_ person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just started the last chapter.... but idk when I'll finish it since I write as fast as a turtle and life is busy as hell. I wish everyone is doing well during the pandemic. ^_^


End file.
